Blackboard: General Information - A Brief Introduction

1. Blackboard is a Web-based courseware application designed to support online teaching and learning. It is available to all Tufts University instructors and is used primarily to support their face-to-face classroom activities.
   
   Blackboard allows instructors or Teaching Assistants to deliver online learning materials, provide interactive assessment and assignment opportunities, promote instructor and student collaborative activities and assist in the management of the curriculum.

2. Usually, instructors will establish one Blackboard course site for each of the courses they teach. In other instances, a group of instructors will collaborate in constructing one course site for a number of courses or course sections. At the end of the semester all of the content posted on their course sites is saved and the course site can be re-used the next time the course is offered. Instructors always have web access to all of their Blackboard course sites and can edit them at any time and from any location.
   
   Access to each Blackboard course site is restricted to those having accounts attached to that particular course site. Instructors are given a Blackboard account consisting of a username and password when they apply for their first course site. Accounts for all Tufts University students are automatically created upon matriculation.
   
   Before the start of each semester, instructors make a request to Information Technology Services (ITS) to make available to students either new course sites or previously created course sites for that semester. The course sites are then listed in the Blackboard Course Catalog for that semester and made available to students.
   
   Shortly before the start of classes, ITS populates the Arts & Science, Engineering, Nutrition and Veterinary School course sites with the accounts of registered students. Blackboard course sites for other Tufts University Schools are populated with student accounts manually by the instructor or via a Self-Enrollment feature.

3. Perhaps the most common use of a Blackboard course site by instructors is posting course related materials and making them available for viewing or downloading by students. By default, Blackboard provides a simple built-in navigation system consisting of a series of buttons that provide access to these files. Instructors can post material in a wide variety of file formats or use a built-in web-page editor to easily create their own content. Many instructors use this feature to post their course syllabus, PowerPoint lecture material, spreadsheets, required and supplemental reading material in PDF format and links to articles or databases. Instructors can also display images on their course site as well as audio and video files.
    
4. Blackboard provides instructors with a number of tools to organize and display this course site content. The default buttons can be re-named or re-designed, new buttons can be added and folders can be incorporated to further organize material.
    
5. In addition to posting files, many instructors use any number of Blackboard’s interactive tools to communicate with their students or provide collaborative mechanisms.
    
6. The most common of these tools is the Blackboard e-mail interface. The e-mail interface provides a convenient method for instructors or TAs to easily send e-mail to all or a selected number of their students.
    
7. Another commonly used Blackboard tool is the discussion board. The Blackboard discussion board is a structured asynchronous means of developing a discussion among students on a chosen topic. Typically, instructors will pose a topic to be discussed and students add to the discussion by either responding to the instructor or in reply to other student’s remarks.
    
8. Blackboard also provides instructors with real-time synchronous communication tools called the Virtual Classroom. The most popular of these tools is the Lightweight Chat. Similar to AOL Instant Messenger or other commonly used online chat devices, the Lightweight Chat provides instructors with an instant communication tool. Some instructors use this chat feature to provide online office hours or online access to an instructor or TA the evening before an examination.
    
9. Some instructors allow students to turn in their papers or projects in digital format. Blackboard provides two methods for students to exchange files with their instructor. The first of these is called a Digital Dropbox. Students can submit digital files to their instructor via their digital dropbox. Instructors can download and view these files in their own digital dropbox and can in turn send digital files to any student. A more structured method to exchange files is through the Blackboard Assignment function. Here instructors provide online instructions for the paper or project and students submit the paper or project from within the Assignment function.
    
10. Many instructors require students to work in small groups either to collaborate on a group project or to discuss one aspect of a larger topic. Blackboard allows instructors to create group pages and assign selected student accounts access to those pages. Each group can have its own discussion board, chat function, e-mail interface and group file exchange.
     
11. Each Blackboard course site contains a Test manager and a Survey Manager. Instructors can create online tests or print them out for classroom use. This function also include a Question Pool manager allowing instructors to develop pools of test questions and answers that can be used in any test and shared among all of the instructor’s Blackboard course sites. Some instructors use the test function to post example tests and answers or tests and answers from previous semesters. The survey manager is used to create online surveys. The results of a survey are statistically collated for the instructor. Some instructors use the survey function for course or material evaluations.
     
12. Many instructors use the Blackboard gradebook to calculate and post grades for exams, papers or projects. Students can view their grades online through the Blackboard course site.
     
13. If you are interested in obtaining any number of Blackboard course sites contact the Blackboard Administrator at nhirsig@tufts.edu Include the name of each course, the course number, the semester in which the course will be offered and the sections if more than one.
    
    You will receive by e-mail access information and links to documentation that will assist you in developing your Blackboard course site.

If you have any questions or comments regarding this Step-By-Step procedure contact the Tufts Blackboard Administrator at: nhirsig@tufts.edu